By Grace Zimmerman

paint the white roses red,heat the concrete steps with strong thighs,strip the trees of their bark and look insidemake the boys sit and the girls standtake the wasted green from the fallen leaves andspread it evenly on the dead grasslead the elephant up my toes over my hips to my chestsit him on the butterflies lifting up and down.suck my air away.go.tell the girl you love you’re goneleave his softest sweater folded on the lawn,light the pine scented candles in julycover the closet with christmas lights toforget his clothes were ever there.stop calling him.cry.toss the sunflowers rotting in their vase,wreck the old road trip carsell the parts to buy a bikelose the bike to sticky fingers and an old cable lock.walk to work.quit.scream that life has tainted it all andlet the rest spoil out of spitecover your ears till your brother shuts up shuts up shuts the fuck up,fight with the mother about fighting for fighting’s sakescrape the last of your savings together to buy a dog,give the dog away after a weekbuy a fish.flush.touch your lips to the bodies of strangersbreak every rule your father ever setdye your hair to match your mother’s potting soilknock down a wall in your bedroom with fistsget kicked out.break.join a gym and take up swimming.run until 10k feels like a stroll through central park.move back in with your college roommatebackpack through bali to feel sunshinebuy new clothes for a job you already hatelet your hair fade back to redmeet a nice boy and teach him fear.